Think the 160GB 1.8" iPod Drive can be crammed in an Air?

macrumors 6502

I know its really too early to know for sure but I wonder if the 160GB Drive from the iPod Classic 160 could possibly be crammed into the MacBook Air. I hope that apple didn't slim down too much and just left the 160GB out due to supply reasons. I'd be tempted to swap the drive with my 160GB iPod drive if I could make it fit and if the interface was the same on both. 80GB is just too little space.

macrumors 6502a

I know its really too early to know for sure but I wonder if the 160GB Drive from the iPod Classic 160 could possibly be crammed into the MacBook Air. I hope that apple didn't slim down too much and just left the 160GB out due to supply reasons. I'd be tempted to swap the drive with my 160GB iPod drive if I could make it fit and if the interface was the same on both. 80GB is just too little space.

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Thats a great idea. Although I am not a fan of the MBA, and wont buy one, this would be an awesome option for anyone considering the MBA.
Although, after the price of a iPod and MBA, you are in the same price range as the MBP

thread startermacrumors 6502

Thats a great idea. Although I am not a fan of the MBA, and wont buy one, this would be an awesome option for anyone considering the MBA.
Although, after the price of a iPod and MBA, you are in the same price range as the MBP

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Very true, but since I already have the iPod and its only got 56GB on it I might as well do a swap as the benifits are worth it in my case.

As for the warranty...I upgraded the harddrive in my Macbook Pro to 250GB and its at service now getting the LCD and Battery replaced. I guess it depends on what you do to the machine and who the tech is that looks at it but as long as you don't break anything just opening the unit doesn't necessarily void the warranty.

Opening it probably won't be an issue. I'm good at that kind of stuff. While it is a 1.8" Drive though, the 160GB drive is thicker so we'll see. Apple may have designed the thing for only the 80GB Thickness.

macrumors 68020

The 80gb and 160 gb iPod Classics are not the same thickness, which I think is down to the drive- there's only 3 mm in it - but the MBA seems like it's on the bleeding edge of packaging, and thus that 3mm might be 3mm too far.

macrumors 68030

They are both 1.8" drives, but they have different thicknesses, hence the reason the 160gb iPod is a bit thicker. Man i wish they would have offered that as an option, though. I'd buy the MBA if i could get more disk space!

as far as cramming it in there, doubtful, if not impossible... bummmmmmer

macrumors newbie

How much would the 5400 rpm hard drive deplete battery life. Depending on how much you need to access it I could see 30-60 minutes of battery time gone.

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Everything I've read about this question lends itself to the idea that going from 4200rpm to 5400rpm improves battery life. The decrease in read times actually overcomes the extra energy needed to spin the drive.

macrumors newbie

They are both 1.8" drives, but they have different thicknesses, hence the reason the 160gb iPod is a bit thicker. Man i wish they would have offered that as an option, though. I'd buy the MBA if i could get more disk space!

as far as cramming it in there, doubtful, if not impossible... bummmmmmer

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Pretty sure the thickness is added battery capacity, not a thicker disk drive.

thread startermacrumors 6502

Well I've been doing some more research on this. First important thing to find out will be exactly what interface the Air hard drive is...PATA ZIF or CE-ATA. Based on the presentation pics I believe its PATA ZIF

The second part is determining exactly which hard drive the 160GB iPod uses. Seems the toshiba 160GB Drive I initially figured it was uses a CE-ATA Interface which is not likely what apple uses on the iPod. The guts on both iPod classics are likely the same except the hard drive and the 80GB one uses a ZIF PATA Interface if I recall correctly. Samsung does happen to make a 160GB PATA 1.8" Drive but I can't find any specs on it as the only model info I got for it is that its a Spinpoint N2 160GB.

Also of note is that the 80GB drive in the Air is definitely NOT the one in the iPod classic. That drive is only 3600RPM not 4200RPM like in the Air. Of course Toshiba and Samsung both make 80GB 4200 RPM Drives that range from 5-8MM height with PATA and CE-ATA Interfaces so its hard to pinpoint a specific model.

I would open up my ipod and look myself but I'm having a hell of a time trying to get it open. I'm not gonna bend or scratch this thing.

macrumors 65816

Apple can't just shove the biggest thing in there and put it out the door. They have to have room to sell their Rev B books. If 3mm were what made the difference, Apple would have made room inside the case (and they likely did).

Now you really want to get me talking, show me remote disk to an Ipod as a slave drive.

macrumors 68030

Apple can't just shove the biggest thing in there and put it out the door. They have to have room to sell their Rev B books.

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That's absurd. Apple isn't going to cripple their current machines just so that they have room to grow. They're going to offer whatever is readily available (taking into account cost and supply factors) and assume (correctly) that technology will have improved by the time they're ready to release an update.

macrumors 68020

That's absurd. Apple isn't going to cripple their current machines just so that they have room to grow. They're going to offer whatever is readily available (taking into account cost and supply factors) and assume (correctly) that technology will have improved by the time they're ready to release an update.

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No, he's right. Apple's never going to offer the biggest hard drives or most amount of memory as standard. If they did, they wouldn't have stuff to absurdly overcharge people to for the privilege of upgrading.

There are 320gb drives on the market now, but you're never going to see them as "standard" on the MBP (nevermind the MB) until stores are regularly selling 640gb+ drives. In fact, the standard drive size on an MBP is 120gb, and it's even less (80gb) on the Macbook.

Apple isn't any different from any other manufacturer; they all put small drives and small sticks in their computers, and ask you to pay for the upgrade.

macrumors newbie

Well, my hard drive died after i crashed on my bike last week. i tried upgrading to a 100 gb drive that is 8mm tall, and yes, the 3 mm difference makes a huge difference. The bottom casing of the Macbook Air wouldnt close with it in. Also, no one has the 5mm drives in stock so my MBA is currently driveless. It sucks.

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